


Plain Sight

by atomicmayo



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Confessions, Feel-good, First Time Gem Fusion, Fluff, Gem Fusion, Hugs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 00:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17888459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atomicmayo/pseuds/atomicmayo
Summary: As he made his way toward the temple, Steven saw someone tall, disheveled and remarkably unfashionable sitting on the curb outside the Big Donut.





	Plain Sight

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 22 of Dewmieruary. Takes place some time after the end of season five.

As he made his way toward the temple, Steven saw someone tall, disheveled and remarkably unfashionable sitting on the curb outside the Big Donut. Steven started moving forward and watched a familiar process of discovery unfold as he got closer – something he had seen, and experienced himself, tens of times now.

It was the third time he saw it in someone else that morning – one part Valentine's Day, one part Halloween, depending on who all was involved.

The being on the curb reached up and started at the huge pompadour at the top of his head, his mouth formed into a little 'o' of surprise. His hand wandered down his high forehead and nose, marveling at the changed topography.

Another set of arms had ripped the back of his blotchy purple and blue shirt, protruding from the shoulder blades. Crooked at the elbows and hanging loosely, they framed him in a way that looked almost ornamental; somewhat wing-like. His expression turned shy and inquisitive as the back arms slowly reached under the front ones, hands slipping forward to press against his chest in a sort of self-hug. His eyes slowly closed. It was chilly that morning – a puff of steam left his mouth as he let out a shaky, awe-struck sigh.

"It's us," he murmured with a smile spreading across his face. There was even the tiniest giggle. He began to mumble a little conversation with himself.

"It's really... it's us!" he practically squeaked, "how did we... I don't know."

"...but I've kept thinking about what it would be like to hold you again..." he trailed off.

"...to have your arms around me one more time..." he started only to trail off again. He soon dropped words completely and made a pleased little noise, hunching his shoulders up to absorb as much of the embrace as he could.

His expression faded as he noticed Steven's approach, unwrapping his back arms from around himself. Steven noticed a splash of tan across his cheek, flooding the rest of the pink skin on his face.

The being quickly folded his front arms across his chest, contemplating his now too-small shoes. Well-tended leather, they were discarded and sitting beside him with a red pair of Chuck Taylors and a half-eaten blue velvet donut. A paper coffee cup was tipped over a couple feet away from them. More steam rose from the spilled contents as it cooled on the asphalt in the morning sunlight.

To Steven, it looked like the being was trying and failing for a poker face - he furrowed his brow for a second in an attempt to appear all business, then seemed to realize what it felt like for his face to crumple in a particular way and then smiled at himself. It was almost like he was finding himself cute.

"Hi, Steven," the being said gruffly as Steven came to a stop. He cleared his throat just after he said it, seeming to process the sound of his own voice at a normal volume.

"Mr. Dewey and Jamie?" Steven asked as he gave a brittle, awkward laugh and a friendly set of finger-guns in their direction.

"Yep."

Steven blinked up at him and tried to broach the topic as well as he could. While he got the sensitivity of the situation, he had already had this conversation several times - there were bigger things to take care of. Steven glanced ahead to the temple anxiously.

"So um, do you know what's happening to you right now?"

"Like at the wedding, right? Ruby and Sapphire make up Garnet?" The being replied.

"Right. You're a fusion, like them," Steven explained.

"A fusion, right," the being – the _fusion_ – echoed, but there was something altogether unconvincing in his voice that Steven couldn't place. He used his back arms to lean against the curb, his eyes darting from side to side.

"I thought humans couldn't do that."

"It's a long story, but we think some of the people in town might not all be totally... human." Steven finished weakly.

Steven let himself muse for a second or two. Mr. Dewey was a weird shade of pink - he also had a history of lying. He was the mayor of Beach City for a long time, but tried not to get involved in much of anything when he was. To Steven, that almost felt like Mr. Dewey was trying to defend the town in his own way, like Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl – but felt he had to hide at the same time! Maybe keeping everything nice and quiet around town had something to do with that?

Then there was Jamie. Steven thought of Jamie as such a good actor; it would make sense he would be good at hiding things. Jamie was the only person who seemed to know where Steven lived for so long, too. Did he know something about the temple? Maybe something even Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl didn't know about? And if so, how?

Could both of them be half-gem? Or part-gem? Or _something_?

Steven had the same frustrating, inconclusive train of thought each time he had found these new fusions around town. In a split-second moment of desperation, he was tempted to even find Ronaldo and get his take, but then a wave of horror struck him as he realized he hadn't seen Ronaldo, Lars _or_ Sadie yet.

Concluding he would have to sort it out later, he pushed his annoyance aside and glanced again in the direction of the temple. The fusion looked down and tested his fine motor skills by grabbing one of his four shoes and re-lacing a shoelace.

"This is happening all around town, isn't it?" he asked, but it sounded more like a statement of fact than a question.

"Yeah, um," Steven paused, feeling it necessary to prepare him in advance, "have you seen Buck, Sour Cream and Jenny?"

A twinge of alarm in his voice sounded very familiar to Steven. 

"What?! Buck agreed to tell his dad if he started dating anyone."

"Oh, well, it doesn't always have to be a romantic thing with fusion. Sometimes if you're close enough in any way with someone, it just happens."

The fusion coughed and composed himself. Crossing his legs at the ankles, Steven could see him wiggling his toes experimentally through his socks.

"Yes, of course," he finally replied, "Bill might need to have a talk with Buck when all this has settled down, though."

He brought a finger to his lips in thought for a moment. He eventually lowered his eyes and added, "Bill and Jamie might need to talk a bit too, seems like."

Steven looked up at him for a beat, concerned, but he answered the question before Steven could form it.

"We're... okay, Steven. It's definitely new, but it's all right."

His poker face faded for a second and he cracked a smile as he finally admitted, "I think I... like this, actually."

Steven smiled up at him briefly, but the smile faded as he realized.

"Hey, um, don’t panic, but we’re not quite sure how long this might go on for. In the meantime, what would you like to be called? With Connie and me we use a combination of our names…"

Steven fumbled around with a few increasingly embarrassing mash-ups of names until they stopped him.

"How about Jamil - ‘Jamie’ plus ‘Bill’?"

Steven lit up and replied excitedly, "that's great! So, Jamil?"

"Yeah?"

"When something like this first happened to me, I was told to see it as an experience... and you can be a good experience if you want to be."

Jamil smiled back at Steven just as flares of light blinked in the direction of the temple. Steven broke off the conversation with an abrupt "okay gotta go! Have fun! Might need to talk again later," and took off running.

"Did we just get relationship advice from a fourteen year old?"

Jamil laughed and tried getting up to go for a walk. He fell down often, but found the extra arms were good for catching himself, regardless of how he fell.


End file.
